The present invention relates to a novel polysilane composition and, more specifically, to a polysilane composition that is soluble in organic solvents, that has a molecular weight in the range of 2,000 to 1,000,000, and that has a short-wavelength (.ltoreq.285 nm) absorption maximum at room temperature.
Polysilanes are currently under investigation as conductive materials, photoconductive materials, nonlinear optical materials, and photoresists. However, since these materials generally absorb in the 300 to 400 nm region, the exploitation of their nonlinear optical properties requires polysilanes that absorb at shorter wavelengths. Moreover, utilization as a deep UV patterning material also requires polysilanes that absorb at shorter wavelengths. To date, the soluble high-molecular-weight polysilane with the shortest absorption wavelength is (3,3,3-trifluoropropyl)methylpolysilane EQU --[CF.sub.3 CH.sub.2 CH.sub.2 (CH.sub.3)Si].sub.n --
as described by Masaie Fujino, et al., Macromolecules, Volume 25, p. 1079, (1992).
The present invention takes as its object the introduction of a high-molecular-weight polysilane that absorbs at shorter wavelengths and is also soluble in organic solvents.